


Stories of the Second Self: Traveling Sisterhood

by John_Steiner



Series: Alter Idem [139]
Category: Urban Fantasy - Fandom, lockdown - Fandom, witches - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:01:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22689694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Steiner/pseuds/John_Steiner
Summary: After the collapse of state and national order the people of Hot Springs, North Carolina learned to be even more self-sufficient and neighborly. Then Leonie "Granny" Krüger witnesses the arrival of a Fae woman riding a unicorn into town. Learning that the antlered woman is a federal agent named Teresa Sorenson, Granny Krüger describes the changes in Hot Springs and that imposing federal rules onto the small town will clash with the way things are done locally. However, Granny Krüger senses that Teresa would make an idea member in a witches' coven.
Series: Alter Idem [139]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618813





	Stories of the Second Self: Traveling Sisterhood

The utility lines strewn in a mad tangle over the streets reflected the world that for Hot Springs, North Carolina no longer existed. It was morning, and everyone started up their own gennies. Fuel was provided by old grease from diners and family homes to one of two mechanics garages, who worked it into biofuels that they sold back on the cheap. It was the neighborly thing do to in a town where, especially now, everybody knew everyone else.

The town remained otherwise as tranquil and calm as the day before the mass shooting off in Cincinnati that revealed the first publicly identified werewolf. In the following two years the world lost its mind outside of Hot Springs. The failure of the national power grid didn't inconvenience the residents of Hot Springs, like Leonie Krüger.

Leonie didn't watch much TV before what, she later heard, was called Alter Idem. She got secondhand news from other people's telling of what they heard from emergency radio broadcasts and newspapers. It reaffirmed her belief nothing good could be gleaned from TV.

That's why she instead chose to enjoy the morning on her rocking chair on the porch on. Then she leaned forward on seeing someone riding up the road on what looked like a white horse. Even with biofuel available in Hot Springs, the use of horseback riding made a return around town.

"Oh my," the very elderly Leonie muttered on getting a better look at the rider and mount. "Horns on 'em both. Good Lordy!"

Technically, what sprang from the woman on the unicorn were antlers not horns, though the antlered woman's suit struck Leonie as even more out of place. It clashed utterly with her broad nose bridge and pointed ears.

The woman noticed Leonie sitting on her porch, which was one of the houses at the edge of the small town, and veered the unicorn off the road. "Excuse me, ma'am, can you tell me if this is Hot Springs?"

"Yes'em it is, young lady," Leonie grinned warmly and nodded, "You lost?"

"I was looking for this place in fact," the woman said, and dismounted the unicorn to approach on her own hooves, as cloven as the unicorn.

"You one of them...," Leonie struggled to recall the term she heard most, "Whats-em-call-it, Fae people?"

"Yes ma'am, that's right," replied the suited woman with the most silky of brown hair Leonie had ever seen. "I take it you don't see many here."

"No we don't," Leonie affirmed, and then waved to another chair on her porch, "Why don'cha take a load off and tell Granny Krüger what brings 'ya, honey."

At first, the woman remained standing long enough to pull a billfold from her slacks pocket to present. "My name is Teresa Sorenson from the United States Bureau of Pentecaste Affairs."

"My, that's a mouthful right there," Leonie replied, "Didn't know there still was a United States."

"Yes ma'am there is," Teresa assured, and added, "Barely."

"What brings 'ya to our lil' kingdom Fae lady?" Leonie offered as her way of being clever with 'fair lady' and seeing Teresa not seeming to get the joke.

"Well," Teresa started to say, and at last accepted a seat before continuing, "My job was to come out here to see if there still was a Hot Springs."

"Them government people givin' out unicorns now instead of cars?" Leonie asked waving absently at how Teresa arrived.

"Ahh no," Teresa's face revealed she had her own interesting story, "The car broke down about a hundred miles ago, and... it's the weirdest thing, but the unicorn came down the mountain range and was real friendly to me. It seemed okay with me being close to it, and bent a foreleg to let me get on. I used to ride horses in my spare time, back when I worked in the FBI."

"So you're here to spy on us then?" Leonie asked.

"No, neither bureau does that," Teresa defended, "I was sent out here to inform your mayor that the federal occupation of North Carolina is coming to a close in a few more months, and so if they needed relief aid they could resume communication with the governor's office or through federal channels."

"We ain't got a mayor no more," Teresa declared, "You're a bit late for that, honey."

Teresa grew pensive, "No mayor? So you're saying there is a different elected official I should talk to?"

"Nope," Leonie answered.

"So who should I speak with?" Teresa bid, visibly hoping to tease out details.

"Herr Seigel," Leonie answered quickly, "He's the one you want, and you gotta show proper respect young lady."

"Herr, as in German for Lord Seigel?" Teresa clarified, looking at Leonie sideways.

"Yes'em," Leonie nodded, "Lot o' us are German folk here since the internment in 1917. When all else done broke we figured it was back to the old ways, an' no one come 'round to tell us diff'ernt."

"I see," Teresa looked off to the distance, "Anything else I should know? Such as laws that might've been implemented since Alter Idem?"

"Gotta know where the magic zones are," Leonie advised further, "An' can't you cast no magic but in them spots."

"I'm not familiar with that much," Teresa revealed, and held a hand up toward her nine-point antlers, "Sort of weird for a Fae elder caste, I know. Anything else?"

"You ain't a wolfer, or a Nachzehrer," Leonie answered, "So don't you worry none about bein' run out over that."

"Nach, zeh," Teresa enunciated one syllable at a time, and then gave up, "I don't know what that second one is."

"Them dead people feedin' off blood," Leonie explained.

"Ohh!" Teresa recognized at last, and nodded, "You mean the vampires, Yes, okay. Why does your town have magic zones?"

"Keeps them christian folk feelin' safe," Leonie replied, hinting at her own background. "They got a bit unsettled when they saw the old ways come on back. None o' us want any witch burnings, an' they're all fearful about hexes and things. Herr Seigel made the pact and kept the peace, so we all took him as lord of Hot Springs."

"German folk magic," Teresa deduced.

"An you tellin' me you ain't schooled old way, huh?" Leonie chided, leaning over to pat the back of Teresa's hand with a smile of comradery. "Any time you wanna talk magic you stop by ole Granny Krüger, and I'll teach you good an' proper."

Teresa seemed unable to help but return a cheerful expression, and then looked down the road at hearing other townsfolk busy themselves with morning chores.

"I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me," Teresa said, as she stood up and offered her hand out, "And thank you also for the tutelage offer, ma'am. I'm sure I'll swing by here again before I move on."

Leonie accepted Teresa's handshake, and Leonie's ring finger shook ever so slightly. In that gesture she cast the most subtle of spells, not to hex this charming government lady, but a mark of sisterhood.

"I look forward to company, miss," Leonie replied, and waved as Teresa headed back to the accommodating unicorn.

"Yes'em," Leonie muttered, after Teresa mounted up and rode off toward the town hall. "We got's us a lot o' learnin' to catch up on to be make y'all a right proper witch."


End file.
